Tempe voters are only days away from deciding whether to sink $29.8 million into an array of city infrastructure projects, including building a new Town Lake western dam and rehabilitating municipal buildings.

Also, Tempe and Mesa voters will decide what some election analysts have predicted could be a tight District 26 state Senate race between Rep. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, and Sen. Jerry Lewis, R-Mesa.

Redistricting lumped parts of west Mesa with most of Tempe in the new District 26, which replaces much of the former Tempe-centric District17 and former District18, which was entirely within Mesa city limits.

Municipal bond election

Tempe voters historically have supported bond measures. But city leaders have warned that this election’s bond items are far from a slam dunk.

Complicating the bond issue was city leaders this summer shifting bonding capacity that voters approved in 2008 for renovating aging neighborhood parks. The money now helps cover the $37.4million Town Lake western steel-dam replacement project. The shift angered some fiscal conservatives who said they would vote against the new bonds in protest.

City leaders have said that the shift is responsible fiscal planning to ensure funding for the dam and that the investment in the lake benefits a premier public-recreation resource.

Bond Question 2 also has riled a few residents, who have called it misleading because it does not specifically mention that the council has targeted the bonding capacity for the Town Lake dam project.

Question 2 includes $10.5million for parks improvements/community services, including funding to improve athletic-field and sports-facility lighting, to improve park and street landscaping, and to acquire, construct and improve park and recreation (including park lakes) infrastructure, equipment and facilities.

Although Question 2 states that funding is included for park lakes, it does not state that the council has targeted it to go toward the new steel dam.

Mayor Mark Mitchell has said the city is actively seeking a land sale. Proceeds would be used for the dam project, freeing up bonding capacity to invest in neighborhood parks.

Question 1 asks for $6.4million for public safety, including funding to upgrade the police/city radio system and to acquire and improve public-safety facilities and equipment.

Question 3 includes $12.9million for municipal infrastructure and preservation, including funding to repair and rehabilitate city buildings.

Legislative elections

District 17 was a Democrat stronghold. But recent voter registration for District26 shows that voters registering as “other,” which includes independents, have the highest registration at 30,275, compared with 25,974 Democrats and 20,459 Republicans.

Democrats are trying to hold onto House and Senate seats. But Republicans are hopeful that by appealing to moderate and independent voters, they will take the seats.

Ableser is a longtime Tempe resident and Democrat who has served in the House and Senate. He is banking on the support he has built over the years serving as a moderate voice in the Legislature.

Lewis is a Republican from Mesa who successfully challenged Russell Pearce in last year’s bitterly contested recall election. That race gave Lewis name recognition as a moderate Republican.

Also seeking the seat is Libertarian Damian Trabel.

The House race is split along candidates’ city of origin. GOP candidate Raymond Speakman and Democrat candidate Andrew Sherwood hail from Mesa. Juan Mendez, a Democrat, and Mary Lou Taylor, a Republican, are from Tempe.

Haryaksha Gregor Knauer, a Green candidate, and Chris Will, a Libertarian, also are seeking the House seat.

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